Unproven Chapter Fifty "Just Give Me Today"

If you're loved by someone, you're never rejected, decide what to be and GO BE IT
-The Avett brothers

Recommend Reading Introduction to Unproven

DEFINITELY READ Prologue

Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three

Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six

Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty Two Chapter Twenty Three Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Five Chapter Twenty Six Chapter Twenty Seven

Chapter Twenty Eight Chapter Twenty Nine Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty One Chapter Thirty Two Chapter Thirty Three

Chapter Thirty Four Chapter Thirty Five Chapter Thirty Six

Chapter Thirty Seven Chapter Thirty EightChapter Thirty Nine

Chapter Forty Chapter Forty One Chapter Forty Two

Chapter Forty Three Chapter Forty Four Chapter Forty Five

Chapter Forty Six Chapter Forty Seven Chapter Forty Eight

Chapter Forty Nine

Chapter Fifty

From the moment Ary climbed out of Andie’s car at school the following morning she knew something was very wrong. She’d already been a little concerned when he hadn’t responded to her goodnight text. A worry that had increased when he’d also ignored her ‘good morning’. She hadn’t automatically assumed it had anything to do with her, she was just worried that his father had upset him with whatever it was he’d wanted. But now as she looked at his car and found him nowhere in sight the worry became anxiety. As she looked around, she realized none of his usual group were outside. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe he’d arrived a tad early and needed to use the bathroom and his groupies had followed him in. Maybe.

But deep inside her, the part of her soul that was tethered to his, screamed bullshit.

“Where’s Grayson?” Sonya asked.

“Inside I guess.”

“Uh oh, what’s going on?” Sonya’s brows furrowed.

She shook her head.

“Ary?” Andie spoke up. “What's going on?”

She looked at her friend and bit her lip. “Nothing, or I mean, I don’t know. His father texted that he wanted to see him, and I haven’t heard from him since he dropped me off. So I don’t know.”

Andie stared at her hard.

“I don’t know!” She repeated sharply, then winced. “Sorry, it’s just you’re giving me this look like I’m holding back…”

“Okay, you don’t know. So let’s go inside and find out.”

Ary nodded and fell into step alongside her two friends, the creatures in her stomach kicking up a gnawing frenzy as they walked through the doors and headed to the senior lounge. Usually they didn’t go there in the morning since they tended to linger in the parking lot until the first bell was about to ring, but if Grayson had gone inside early it was the most likely place to find him.

And find him they did, sitting at the wraparound table in the back with his normal crew. She hung back until she was certain her arrival had been noticed and commented on by a couple of the girls. When he didn’t even look up to acknowledge her she did the only thing she could think of. She turned and walked back out.

“Hey, where are you going?” Sonya hurried to catch up to her as she strode toward the bathrooms.

She didn’t respond, couldn’t if she wanted to her throat was so tight. As soon as she was safely ensconced in a stall she let the shudders run through her, taking deep breaths to ward off the tears.

She heard Sonya leave and knew that pretty soon she would have some idea of what was going on since her friends were likely to confront the object of her pain. Suddenly she had the overwhelming urge to flee the building, outrun the information sure to break her heart. Again. Yup. That was exactly what she was going to do.

Thirty minutes into her long walk home she started feeling better. Her mind had run around and around the possibilities and she’d landed on two. One, was that his dad had told him to stop seeing her, threatening him with one thing or another to gain his compliance. The other was that it had all been a continuation of the game like
Andie feared, and his father had suggested he end it on the I love you note after taking something from her that she’d never known she’d give. But if he could fake… No. She didn’t believe that. His emotions had been so strong she'd felt them. Which left her with theory A. His dad had seen through him and known that he wasn’t faking his feelings for her.

She wondered what the threat would entail, disinheritance? Did it matter? She sighed. That was the real question wasn’t it? Did it matter? They were only seniors in high school and although she couldn’t imagine ever feeling about anyone the way she felt for him she also knew the odds of them staying together, getting married, happily ever after, etcetera, were extremely long. If you looked at it coldly, anyway. Statistics and all that. And James would point that out, wouldn’t he? Ask Grayson whether he was really willing to give up everything for something that was destined to fail, and she couldn’t blame him for caving. A chance at making things work with his high school sweetheart or over a billion chances at everything else. Didn’t matter if she knew what she would choose, it wasn’t as if she could prove it since billions of dollars were not a part of her future.

She felt a sudden and intense flare of hatred toward money. She pulled her wallet from her purse and yanked out the three twenties lining the inside and tore them to pieces. She thought about flinging them over her head but dumped them into her purse instead. Maybe she would mail them to him. She smiled slightly, but it didn’t stick.

She heard her name, and her head whipped up in time to see Andie pulling up alongside her.

“What are you doing?” Her friend demanded, her face contorted in anger.

“Walking,” she answered.

“Get in the car.”

She sighed and opened the back door, sliding into the seat.

Sonya was peering at her through the seats with such a look of sympathy it actually hurt to look at her.

“I’m okay. I just wanted to walk.”

She watched her friends exchange looks and sighed. “I know. You don’t have to say a word because I know. He’s traded places with the cold uncaring bastard of before. I mean nothing to him, Blah. Blah. Blah.”

“We told him off,” Sonya offered.

Ary breathed a humorless laugh. “I wish you didn’t. There wasn’t a point.”

Sonya looked at her worriedly. “It’s like he’s not human or something,” she made a face, “he didn’t even respond to anything we said, just cocked his head to the side and looked at us like we were some kind of unidentified species. But he’s the alien.”

Ary nodded, feeling exhausted. “I know. Just take me to my house please.”

Andie frowned at her in the rear view and she held up a hand before she could speak. “Just for today. I won’t do what I did last time I promise. I just need today.”

Andie nodded and mercifully kept her mouth shut.

Generously created for me by @son-of-satire

Have you filled your witness votes?
Check out these passionate and competent souls:@ocd-witness, @teamsteem, @steemgigs, @ausbitbank, @roelandp and @dragosroua; then go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses
If you don't see their name, simply write it in the empty box at the bottom of the page.

To better understand what a witness does read @dragosroua's post Witnesses: What they are and why you should care